The fallout from poverty appears early, and researchers are now reporting being poor can damage a child’s brain in ways that resemble a stroke, USA Today reports in Study: Poverty dramatically affects children’s brains.
A new study finds that certain brain functions of some low-income 9- and 10-year-olds pale in comparison with those of wealthy children and that the difference is almost equivalent to the damage from a stroke.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence that shows how poverty afflicts children’s brains. Researchers have long pointed to the ravages of malnutrition, stress, illiteracy and toxic environments in low-income children’s lives. Research has shown that the neural systems of poor children develop differently from those of middle-class children, affecting language development and “executive function,” or the ability to plan, remember details and pay attention in school. — USA Today, 12/7/08
The evidence of poverty’s toll on children keeps growing. We already knew kids in wealthier professional families hear tens of millions of more words than those in low-income families.
(Thanks to the Journalism Center on Children & Families for finding this news.)